296 ESSENTIALS OF BOTANY 
It is fairly certain that they were of the simplest structure, 
probably far below any of the more highly developed alge. 
377. The Earliest Plants akin to Animals. —It is easy 
in the case of the higher members of both kingdoms to 
state the differences between plants and animals. No one 
can fail to distinguish between the grazing animal and the 
grass on which it feeds. 
Most ANIMALS Most PLANTS? 
1. Obtain carbon from carbohy- | Obtain carbon from carbon di- 
drates or oil made by plants oxide in air or water. 
or other animals. 
2. Obtain nitrogen from proteids | Obtain nitrogen from nitrates in 
and so on. soil. 
3. Have no chlorophyll. Have chlorophyll. 
4. Have not cell-walls of cellulose. | Have cell-walls of cellulose. 
5. Have great division of labor | Have little division of labor among 
among the cells. the cells. 
6. Are mainly consumers of food | Are mainly producers of food 
and use much of the energy and use little or no energy in 
derived from their food in locomotion. 
locomotion. 
There are many exceptions to the statements above 
given; as, for instance, fungi fail to conform to the char- 
acteristics given under the headings 1, 2, 3, and 6. Some 
of the lowest known organisms, such as the slime-molds 
1See Thomson’s Outlines of Zoilogy, Chapter II, D. Appleton & Co., 
New York. 
